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Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
September of 1980

Larry Giles, Mount Ayr elementary school principal,
stands in the room where Alberta Mickael taught.

A grim reminder of teacher

By Frank Santiago, Tribune Staff Writer

MOUNT AYR, Ia. - After a recent $5 theft at the Mount Ayr Community School, teacher Alberta MICKAEL used the moment to have a little fun.

She penned a note and slid it into the middle drawer of her desk, a place most thieves would look.

The note said, "There's no money in my room." And she added, "Thou shalt not steal."

It was typical "Bert" MICHAEL, a 68-year-old widow, teacher of the handicapped and a short, jovial woman whose personality disarmed almost all.

"When you think of her you think of a Coke - bubbling all the time," said Phil BURMEISTER, school superintendent.

Tuesday, the school teacher's hidden note in the desk was a grim and tragic irony.

MICHAEL, who lived alone for several years since the death of her husband, Lloyd, a carpenter, was found slain Monday in her neat, white two-bedroom home. She apparently had been robbed.

Preliminary findings of an autopsy indicated the woman had been beaten to death, said Gerald SHANAHAN, chief of Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. He quoted Dr. Emmanuel LASCINA, assistant Polk County medical examiner, who said the woman had massive head injuries and may have suffocated.

LASCINA performed the autopsy at Northwest Community Hospital in Des Moines.

SHANAHAN said Tuesday it wasn't immediately known what caused the injuries. He said no weapons were found.

Ringgold County Sheriff Elbert STRANGE said there are no suspects.

MICKAEL'S death jolted the southern Iowa community of 1,700 and shook the school.

Said a stunned Larry GILES, the principal, "She was a caring person, someone who really cared about people. Of all people, Alberta MICKAEL.

"She was very generous with her time and money. She would buy things for students who needed something. Money didn't mean all that much to her."

MICKAEL, a teacher in the county for half a century, chose to teach beyond retirement three years ago.

"We asked her to continue and [remainder of article missing]"

Tribune photographs

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2013

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, September 25, 1980

Services for Alberta Mickael

Funeral services for Mrs. Alberta MICKAEL, 68, the first homicide victim in Ringgold County in over 46 years, are scheduled for this afternoon (Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. at the United Methodist church in Mount Ayr.

The body of Mrs MICKAEL, a special education teacher at the Mount Ayr Community elementary school, was found in her home at 201 S. Webster about 7:45 a.m. by two fellow elementary school teacher who had stopped to pick her up on their way to school.

Clad in a nightgown, her hands tied behind her back, she had been brutally beaten sometime early Monday morning. She suffered a number of fractured facial bones and a later autopsy showed she apparently died from suffication and loss of blood from the injuries.

According to Sheriff Elbert STRANGE, there appeared to have been no struggle. What had been used to beat Mrs. MICKAEL is not known and no weapon was found in the home, authorities said.

~ ~ ~ ~

At a special meeting, Mari McGEHEE was appointed by the school board to fill the unexpired term of former board president Billie SMITH. The death of special education teacher Alberta MICKAEL made it necessary to reshuffle teaching assignments. Title I reading teacher Kathi RINEHART was transferred to the special education vacancy and Ellen ELLIOTT hired to take Mrs. RINEHART'S place as the Title I remedial reading teacher. Mrs. ELLIOTT had applied for the position earlier this past year, so she was a first choice, according to Superintendent BURGMEISTER.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 02, 1980

Arrest made

An arrest was made in connection with the murder case of Alberta MICKAEL, Ringgold county Sheriff's department confirmed last Tuesday evening. Arrested in Des Moines was Ronald Dean TODD, a grand nephew of Mrs. MICKAEL. Taken into custody Tuesday evening, he was to be transferred to the Ringgold county jail Wednesday by Ringgold county sheriff's deputies.

THe arrest was the latest detail in the investigation of the case, a break that Ringgold county Sheriff Elbert STRANGE hoped for after silver certificates taken from Mrs. MICKAEL'S home September 21 began to turn up at various Des Moines businesses. Earlier this week, Sheriff STRANGE had said that robbery appeared to be the motive in the slaying and that some $2,000 in cash -- much of it in silver certificates -- was stolen from the home at the time of the homicide. A collection of silver coins, which also included some foregin coins, was also taken, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation announced.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 30, 1980

Arrest made in California

Charles Loyd TYLER, 34, arrested in connection with the murder of Alberta MICKAEL of Mount Ayr, has waived extradition and will be returned to Ringgold county today. TYLER was arrested in San Diego county, California early this month as the third suspect in the murder of the former Mount Ayr special education teacher. Officials had been waiting for TYLER'S return to proceed in the legal proceedings against the suspects. Being held in the Ringgold County Jail is Ronnie Dean TODD and Harold Evans TODD is being held in Clarke County Jail.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 06, 1980

Todd arrives back in Ringgold County

Ringgold County Sherrif Elbert STRANGE arrived back in Mount Ayr Friday afternoon with Charles Loyd TODD, 34, a suspect in the murder of Alberta MICKAEL of Mount Ayr. Bond for TYLER was set for $1 million and he was taken to the Union County Jail in Creston to await trial. As of press time, no attorney has been named for TYLER who faces a charge of first degree murder.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, December 04, 1980

Hearing held

A hearing has been set for Wednesday, December 10, by the attorney for Charles Loyd TYLER, one of three persons charged in the murder of Alberta MICKAEL, has motions filed in hi behalf to produce specified evidence, ask for a change of venue to move the trial out of Ringgold county, extend the time before the trial for preparation for he defense and for severance of his trial from the trials of the other two defendants.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, March 05, 1981

Trial to be moved to Winterset

Trial of the three defendants in the murder of former Mount Ayr school teacher, Alberta MICKAEL, has been transferred out of Ringgold county and set for June, according to a ruling made after a hearing in Mount Ayr last week. Judge Robert O. FREDERICK of Winterset transferred the three criminal cases against Ronnie D. TODD, Harold TODD and Charles Loyd TYLER to Madison county where the trial will be held in Winterset. The ruling came after attorneys for the three defendants asked that the trial be moved from Mount Ayr because of pretrial publicity and the problems of finding an unbiased jury here.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, March 19, 1981

Trial set for June

All three defendants in the murder of Mount Ayr school teacher, Alberta MICKAEL, will stand trial together in Winterset beginning June 22, according to offical notification of rulings on motions in the cases received Tuesday morning by Ringgold county clerk of court, Rollin NOBLE. Judge Robert O. FREDERICK of Winterset made rulings in a number of motions in the information received, including moving the criminal cases against Ronnie D. TODD, Harold TODD and Charles Loyd TYLER to Madison county where the trial will be held in Winterset.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, June 25, 1981

Jury selection begins in murder trial

Jury selection in the trial of two defendants in the murder of Alberta MICKAEL began Monday, nine months to the day from the Monday morning, September 22, 1980, when the local teacher was found dead in her home, the victim of only the fourth murder in Mount Ayr's history. Winterset, 52 miles to the north, is the site of the trial, after a change of venue was granted in the case but the focus of the multitude of mass media scheduled to cover the trial will be on Mount Ayr and the events that September morning.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, July 02, 1981

Jury selection begins in murder trial

Defense witnesses are expected to be called this morning (Thursday) as the murder trial of brothers, Harold Evans TODD, 31, and Ronnie Dean TODD, 26, continues in Winterset. The two brothers are being tried on charges of first degree murder as well as burglary and robbery charges in the death of their great-aunt, Mrs. Albert MICKAEL of Mount Ayr, on the morning of September 22, 1980. A third defendant, Charles Loyd TYLER< 34, will be tried at a later date.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, July 09, 1981

State rests in murder trial

The defense took over the spotlight in the trial of brothers, Harold Evans TODD, 31, and Ronnie D. TODD, 26, after the state rested it case last Tuesday afternoon. The two brothers are charged with first degree murder as well as burglary and robbery in the death of their great-aunt, Mrs. Alberta MICKAEL of Mount Ayr on September 22, 1980. The trial has been heard in Winterset before Judge Robert O. FREDERICK, on a change of venue. A third defendant in the case, Charles Loyd TYLER, 34, will be tried at a later date.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, July 21, 1981

Defense witnesses to be called in trial

Defense witnesses are expected to be called this morning (Thursday) as the murder trial of brothers Harold Evans TODD, 31, and Ronnie Dean TODD, 26, continues in Winterset. The two brothers are being tried on charges of first degree murder as well as burglary and robery charges in the death of their great-aunt, Mrs. Alberta MICKAEL of Mount Ayr, on the morning of September 22, 1980. A third defendant, Charles Loyd TYLER, 34, will be tried at a later date.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, January 8, 1987

Denied new trials

New trials for Ronald and Harold TODD, convicted in 1981 of the murder of Alberta MICKAEL of Mount Ayr, were denied by the Iowa Court of Appeals last week. The men, convicted in August 1981 of second degree murder and first degree robbery in the death of their aunt, Alberta MICKAEL of Mount Ayr, in a Madison county trial, had argued that their rights were violated when the jury in the case was given revised instructions.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2012

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